This week, AT&T laid outs its game plan for 5G in 2017, including speeds it expects to see at specific cell sites and upcoming trials with DIRECTV NOW streaming.

According to AT&T, the company fully expects to reach theoretical speeds of up to 1Gbps at select cell sites, with three-way carrier aggregation under way in select areas and four-way aggregation coming later this year.

Additionally, AT&T intends to begin a 5G trial with DIRECTV NOW in the first half of 2017. In Austin, TX, the trial will have DIRECTV NOW streamed over a fixed wireless 5G connection, supporting multiple devices, allowing AT&T to get a sense of how 5G handles a heavy video traffic load.

Details

1 Gbps Speeds in 2017: AT&T expects to reach 1 Gbps theoretical speeds at select cell sites in 2017. Three-way carrier aggregation is already under way in select areas, and four-way aggregation is coming this year.

Low Latency: Latency affects the time between pressing play and seeing a video start. The industry expectation for 5G is latency less than 5 milliseconds; in lab trials, we’ve successfully tested a connection with less than 3 milliseconds.

5G Trial with DIRECTV NOW: In the first half of 2017, we plan to conduct a trial in Austin that supports DIRECTV NOW streaming over a fixed wireless 5G connection. The trial will support multiple devices (more to come).

We have been hearing quite a bit about 5G from AT&T and Verizon, but currently, as consumers, we are still a bit away from an actual launch. We’ll keep you posted.